Woolly Tree

The Woolly Tree Gang at the
Centre for Stewardship in Falkland

The Woolly Tree Gang

The Woolly Tree Gang are a group of volunteers who meet on a project by project basis. Their name came from their first collaborative piece of work, designing the inside of a tree in wool.

If you are interested in joining the Woolly Tree Gang then please drop us an email or phone 01337 858838.

If you are interested in commissioning a piece of work by the Woolly Tree Gang then please contact artist Jan Hendry who would be happy to discuss further. Jan had a great blog about her own work – worth a look!

WW1 – remembering the old parish of Falkland

The Woolly Tree Gang’s last project was a selection of craft pieces to commemorate the old parish of Falkland at the time of WW1.

The inside-out Woolly Tree project – bringing the inside out

Inspiration for this project came from various sources, in particular amazing images of the cell structure of wood, unique to each tree species, and looking remarkably like a piece of knitting or crochet; the work or ‘yarn-bombers’ or ‘guerilla knitters’ who, often in the dead of night, go out dressing trees in colourful knitted sheaths.

The aim of the project was to show the hidden beauty inside and under trees, by dressing a large tree that was at the heart of the Big Tent festival in 2012. On the trunk, the tree showed its unseen cell structure within; on the ground, the imagined invisible roots were displayed. The group did not aim to be scientifically accurate – this was an arts project and they had creative fund with it – but learnt a lot about trees along the way!

At least 40 people aged 9-94 helped with the project, by knitting, crocheting and helping to dress the tree itself.

Lomond Hills Quilt

Inspired by Patrick Geddes’ Valley Section stained glass panel, this was a community arts project that took place from August 2012 to June 2013.

The aim of the project to make a quilt depicting the Lomond and Benarty hills to be used for community engagement.

As well as the landscape of the hills, forest, fields and loch, you will find wildlife, recreational activities, buildings and features important to the people who love the lomond hills.

Around 12 local people spent about 11 months felting, knitting, embroidering and crocheting the Living Lomonds quilt.

The Picnic Rug

The Picnic Rug was created by the Woolly Tree Gang as part of the Living Lomonds Big Picnic Project. Through this project local primary school children explored the theme of picnics, past, present and imagined.

The children went on their own creative journey in class using storytelling and art to express their ideas and thoughts. The children went on their own picnics, to special places close by their school – and the picnic rug went too.

The Healthy Eating Quilt

Last year the Woolly Tree Gang received their first commission! Lyndsay Clark, Senior Health Promotion Officer with NHS Fife, was so impressed with the Living Lomonds Picnic Rug that she approached the Gang to see if they would make her a ‘story rug’ too. The Gang started work on a spectacular healthy
eating rug for Lyndsay in Autumn 2014 and it was ready for launch at the Ladybird Nursery in Glenrothes in March 2015.

The ‘Eat Well Plate Rug’ (as it’s called) contains the same wide range of fabrics and craft skills as the Gang’s previous projects, but in this one they have taken it to another level. Some special features include a beautiful illustration of the Water Cycle, showing where our fresh water comes from; a collection of tiny hand-stitched bags of lentils and grains (hope the rug is stored away from mice!), gold-lame scales showing calories balancing with exercise, and some very realistic 3D ravioli made from an old woollen blanket.

The Rug is being used around Fife by Lyndsay’s team to help explain the importance of healthy living choices, and is available to borrow by community groups.

A Herbal Book on medicines

The Herbal Book on medicines is part of our Remembering the Old Parish of Falkland WW1 project. The Woolly TreeGang have designed a beautiful stitched book that shows different herbs – brambles, cornflowers, spaghnum moss – that were used as healing plants when other resources were scarce.